Lotus Storm
by Eilam Wordsmith
Summary: A storm is coming. Sky is away when The Lotus Blossom needs him most, and her greatest labor lies ahead.


**Author's Note: **So I finished playing Jade Empire and wanted to write a fanfic. Just another short story. The spark that got me going was the lightning storm, and it came thanks to the writing prompt generator at writingfix. Good site.

I'm not sure this is really my best work (my best work usually requires much more intriguing ideas), but I've definetly started to like the OCs here, and I might set them loose on the empire if anyone else is interested.

And so, enjoy.

* * *

The lotus blossom felt the storm building. Wu stood in the door frame, watching the dark clouds roll in. In the garden below her, the grass bent in the wind, the fountain water a shattered mirror. Wu felt the wind blow her long hair back from her face and shivered, her hands sliding down to protect her swollen belly.

Sky would not be returning tonight by flier. Walking, the journey would take two days and nights. Even in the height of summer, the path to Dirge was long and treacherous.

"Mistress Wu?"

She did not have to turn to see who spoke. So far, only five apprentices had come to Dirge to learn the ways of the Spirit Monks. Wu knew them all, and the one with the light step and whispery voice could be no one but Fei Yen.

"Yes, my student?"

Fei Yen did not reply, and Wu turned to see the girl fidgeting with her robe.

"Perhaps...perhaps my mistress should rest? In your condition..."

Wu closed the heavy door, and then placed her hand on her student's shoulder. "Calm yourself, Fei Yen. I may be the Lotus Blossom, but I am not a blossom to be sheltered from storms. There is much to do. You and the others must close the doors, and prepare. This will be a long night."

Chastened, her student left the room, her manner always that of a nervous bird. This, and her high leaps in battle, had brought her fellows to call her Flying Sparrow. She and Qiao, another apprentice, studied Leaping Tiger Style. The girls were yin and yang, quiet Fei Yen and Screaming Golem Qiao, but they were dear friends and excellent students.

Wu moved to close the shutters already banging in the wind. From here, she could see the boys running back and forth across the courtyard.

Shen, a student of Legendary Strike Style, and already a great chi user, ran behind. His face, tensed in worry and concentration. The students dubbed him Stone Face Shen, and this moniker described him aptly.

Yu and Xue loped ahead, twin brothers alike in every manner. When Wu had begun to teach them Thousand Cuts Style, they had learned at the same pace, matching each other strike for strike. It was disconcerting to fight them together; not for nothing were they called the Two-Headed Dragon.

They were still so young. Orphaned or abandoned or unwanted, they had come to Dirge, called by a power unknown to them. Wu and Sky had taken them in and trained them, becoming the parents they had always meant to be. Now these five were very close to becoming full Spirit Monks, and Wu felt the warm waters of pride rising over her. To have come so far, these children were very skilled indeed, far more than she thought she had been eight years ago.

Still, messages arrived for her weekly from across the empire. Some were expensive, cream-colored scrolls bearing the seal of the Empress Sun Lian. Plainer ones came from Mistress Dawn Star of the Two Rivers School. Still more came from Tien's Landing, and from the Arena, and many other towns and villages miles away.

Wu sat at her desk to read her current pile. It seemed the best compromise; she would grow restless unless she did something useful, and her students would tie her down if she did anything strenuous. She lit the candles on her desk, and unrolled the scroll from Sun Lian.

_To Mistress Wu the Lotus Blossom, Head of the Spirit Monks of Dirge, Champion of the Imperial Arena under the name of Silver Phoenix,_

(Trust Silk Fox to remember that little escapade.)

_...and Leader of the Lotus Order, spiritual advisor to Empress Sun Lian, the Heavenly Lily._

_Dear Wu,_

_It really has been far too long. We miss you at court, and feel the need for spiritual advice. What could your dashing rogue be doing to keep you so busy, I wonder? _

_I received the news of your coming child with great joy, and look forward to being a godmother of great renown. After you have recovered, feel free to visit us with your little monk. _

_Fondest Regards,_

_Empress Sun Lian, the Heavenly Lily of the Jade Empire_

_Wu,_

_My friend, I could not believe the news when I heard it. To think that you and Sky have at last been blessed with a child! I look forward to seeing your son or daughter very soon._

_Lian has invited me to the palace again, but the school demands much of my time and I have more than fulfilled my required time in court. I think that she is lonely more than anything else. Perhaps after the birth, you would visit her after me?_

_Speaking of visits, it is somewhat disappointing that yours must be delayed until your child is born. My students are quite excited that the legendary Lotus Blossom will be coming! Perhaps you could bring some of your own pupils when you come, and we will see a true demonstration of skill._

_Your Dear Friend,_

_Dawn Star_

_To the Silver Phoenix,_

_I have the most splendaforous circumstances to report! Our current Arena champion, the Crimson Viper, has requested to fight the previous champion, meaning yourself. This most audicipacious match would reward you handsomely, and would do wonders for the publicacity of the uncorrupted Arena you helped to bring about._

_Eageredly Awaiting Your Reply,_

_Qui the Promoter_

_Message for The Lotus Blossom, Spirit Monk of Dirge,_

_Great are the troubles of Minister Sheng! Though ghosts no longer trouble the great Jade Empire, they have instead come solely to him! Oh, woe for Minister Sheng! We humbly beseech you to rid us of this plague that haunts our streets! This ghost must be dealt with in utmost swiftness._

_From,_

_Sheng, Minister of Tien's Landing_

_To my love, Wu_

_My spirit monk, times are troubled here. These pirates fight and drink to no end, keeping me apart from you at a time when I should be closer than ever. I know the students will watch you carefully, but I still cannot deny the inexorable pull to be by your side._

_I have considered hiring the Black Whirlwind as an enforcer here during my absence, but he would be far more likely to break the peace than to keep it. Until the issues among the captains are resolved, I'm afraid that I am tied here._

_Tien's Landing is now playing host to a ghost. Minister Sheng is overreacting as usual, and the poor creature mostly just floats around, mumbling to itself. It can wait, for now._

_My wife, my love, mother of my unborn child, I look forward to returning to you with each passing day. I will be there when the hour comes, employing Whirlwind if need be. Until then, I remain always_

_Yours,_

_Sky_

There were many other scrolls, of course. Most, like Tien's Landing, had lingering spirits that needed to be guided to Dirge. A few were from fellow friends and well-wishers, congratulating her on the coming child. But no other held her like Sky's. She lingered over the words, drinking them in, smiling at his silvery tongue that wagged even on paper.

A fluttery kick low in her belly drew her attention, and she touched it through the blue robes of the Spirit Monks. There was not much time left for Sky to keep his promise. These days she resembled a water buffalo more than a lotus blossom, and the grace she once possessed had shrank beneath the weight of her child. Training had been difficult these past weeks, and Wu had been forced to merely sit and watch her students instead of directing their movements physically.

Rolling thunder broke the stillness, and a hammer of wind blew open the shutters, breaking the small lock that had held them. The candles on her desk went out. Wu sat in darkness, her breath paused in the heartbeat of fear. A clattering from the next room, and her students burst through the door, anxious.

"Mistress Wu, we heard the noise! Are you well?"

Wu nodded, and pointed to the shutters now flapping in the wind. "I'm afraid the lock was too old and weak for the storm. Sky will have to fix it when he returns."

Shen moved to close the shutters, while Fei Yen gathered the papers off Wu's desk, her eyes averted from the private contents. Yu and Xue offered their hands to assist their teacher in rising, but she shrugged them away. It was difficult, but Wu did stand on her own.

"You see," she said, "I am perfectly capable—"

But then an odd feeling coursed through her, and her students gasped. Qiao came behind Wu to support her, ignoring the liquid that spilled down her teacher's leg onto the floor.

#

Sky slid along the floor, slamming into the far wall with a _clang_. Wincing, he shot a glare at Kang the Mad, who gripped the Dragonfly's controls with a white-knuckled intensity.

"Do you think you could have gotten around to installing seating in this thing?" He shouted. "Or at least improved your flying skills so that I am not tossed about like a fish in a boat?"

Kang did not look away from the rain-spattered window in front of him. "If you would prefer to walk, I will happily throw you out!" He said.

Sky snorted and did his best to hug the walls of the Marvelous Dragonfly. Curse this storm for arriving when it did; he had finally given in and asked Whirlwind to come. The old axe master had said that he wouldn't have done it if not for Wu, and for her sake, he would do his best not to rip the place apart. It was the best Sky could have hoped for, until the storm appeared on the far horizon.

"This does not bode well," Kang said as a whipcrack of lightning flashed in front of them. The roll of thunder directly after shook the flier like a hand of the gods. "We shall have to land and wait out the storm."

"No!" Sky said. "I might be too late already, but I have to get to Dirge! I promised her!"

"Sky, this is a lightning storm of the highest magnitude!" Kang shouted. "And the Marvelous Dragonfly is constructed largely of metal! If we do not land, there will be quite a large boom indeed, and we shall be in it!"

If his wife were not heavily pregnant with their child, Sky might have agreed. He was not an unreasonable man, after all. But it was not the time for reason. Though he could not describe the feeling of needing to hurry, he knew that Wu needed him at Dirge very, very soon.

"We'll just have to ride it out the best we can," Sky said. "Would it be possible to fly above the storm?"

Kang frowned. "Now why didn't _I _think of that?"

#

Wu strained, felt the bead of sweat roll down her brow before Fei Yen wiped it away. _If this is the pain to create one life_, she thought, _then the gods must have gone through agony to create the world_.

It felt as if she were creating a world as well. There seemed to be so much within her that it was impossible only one tiny baby could be the result. But, as Qiao assured her through the pain, even her own mother had felt the same.

Her mother. The woman had died in this temple so many years ago, along with her father, leaving Wu an orphan in the hands of Sun Li. Would having her here make the pain any less? Would having her here keep Wu from feeling like a fraud, a freak, someone unworthy and unprepared for motherhood?

_Mother!_

_Water Dragon, my mistress, I want my mother! Please, please, let me see her!_

_Please._

"Wu."

Fei Yen screamed at the sudden apparition, and Qiao crouched low, prepared to launch an attack before the spirit could touch her mistress. But the woman, for it was a woman, dressed in the robes of a Spirit Monk, raised her hand.

"Peace, students. I have come only for the sake of my child."

Wu sobbed, and reached for her, but the Spirit Monk drew back. "It would harm your child, to touch me now," she said. "I can comfort with words only.

"My child, my dear one, my daughter, you have accomplished much. I am proud of you, unbelievably proud, for the service you have done for our mistress and for the empire. But this is a far greater task. Before, you could only destroy the evil that already existed. And now...now, you can create the good. Finish this. I know you can."

Oblivious to her students, Wu cried, "Mother, it hurts so much. I did not think the pain would be so great."

"You have felt pain before, my child. Was your own death not harsher for the ending, the finality of it? But this is the pain of beginnings, and it can be borne."

Wu breathed deeply. "Yes, mother."

"I must go, now. My time here is far too short. Your husband will come."

And then, with no sound to the flash of light and fading of mists, she was gone. Wu watched where she had gone, but her mother did not return. She turned to her students, pale and nervous of the previous exchange.

"I'm ready," Wu said. "Fei Yen, please—, "she gasped in pain, then gritted her teeth and spat out the rest. "Keep the others informed. If Sky comes, let him in."

Fei Yen nodded and left the room, sliding the door closed behind her.

Qiao bent over again, this time to resume her work. "It's too bad," she said, "but some just aren't cut out for midwifery. Good call, mistress.

"Now, let's get this baby out. I didn't help at all of my brother's and cousin's births for nothing."

#

"I didn't think having a baby was that hard," Shen said, his voice quivery with nerves. "Do all women, ah..."

Fei Yen shot him a glare, surprising all of them. "From what I have heard, yes. Qiao said earlier that it's been very quick—,"

"If you can call four hours quick," Xue muttered. Another glare from Fei Yen, and he was quiet.

"As I said," she continued, "It's been very quick, and she expects to see a head within the next half hour or so."

The boys turned green and glanced at the door to the infirmary, then Fei Yen, and finally at each other.

"A head?" Yu squeaked.

But before there was any further reaction, footsteps were heard on the stairs, and a sodden Master Sky nearly barreled past them. Seeing the looks on the student's faces, he merely said, "Where?" The four pointed, and then he was in the door with a slam.

The students were quiet, glancing at the puddles of water on the stone floor, and watching Kang struggle up the steps a few minutes later.

"If I could run that fast, there would be no need for flying," he muttered. "Ah, students! How goes things?"

Fei Yen looked at the door. "Not long now."

Kang followed her gaze, shuddered, and then sat on the floor. "Too much excitement for me, oh most certainly," he said. "Don't know how Sky could do this twice in one life."

The others looked at him. "What do you mean?" Asked Shen.

"From what I know, this is not Sky's first child. Poor thing, poor thing. Of course, it led him to the Lotus Blossom, and who can argue with fate?"

Kang the Mad continued for another hour, telling the story of Wu the Lotus Blossom and Sky the Rogue, casually ignoring the occasional scream from the other room or the flash of lightning through the cracks in the shutters. For the students, it seemed as though the eye of their mind had been painted gold, the figure of their master flashing through the air in the Arena, fighting pirates and the Emperor himself. And then, as the Emperor drew his final breath and the Water Dragon was freed, a thin, high wail was heard.

Jerked out of the dream, the students stood and turned as Qiao emerged.

"A girl," she said. "Mei Lien, meaning 'beautiful lotus'."

The lightning flashed again, and Kang muttered, "More like the Beautiful Storm, if she's anything like her father."

#

Wu the Lotus Blossom sighed and kissed her daughter's forehead. Sky, holding them both in his arms, smiled.

"I kept my promise," he said. "Kang the Mad is even more so, but I kept it."

Laughing, Wu kissed him next. "I was worried that you might be sad."

Sky frowned. "Sad? Why?"

"I thought this might remind you of Pinmei. Of your first wife, and how she died."

For a moment, Sky was quiet. He put one of his large, calloused fingers on his daughter's palm, and the small hand closed around it. Sky melted into a smile. "I'll always remember them," he said. "But this, with you, is entirely new. Love grows, and is never quite the same. I think fate brought you to me, and I think all of this was meant to be. So no, I'm not sad. You have just given birth to our daughter, and that makes me the happiest man alive right now."

The two of them watched Mei Lien, the Beautiful Storm, yawn and blink at them. They were oblivious to the six pairs of eyes at the door, or the lighting outside. After every battle was over, before new ones began, they rested, certain that Life went on.


End file.
